“To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.” - Gibran Khalil Gibran

TEDxYouth@Amman

What is TEDx?

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx.
TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxYouth@Amman, where x=independently organized TED event. At our TEDxYouth@Amman event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group.
The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.
prix-du-cuivre.fr/prix-de-l-or

From the TED website

What you’ll find at every TEDx event:

The content and design of each TEDx event is unique and developed independently, but all TEDx events have several features in common.

What is TEDxYouth@Amman?

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDxYouth@Amman is proud to present the first TEDxYouth event entitled “EDUCATIVITY”, a full-day of inspirational and passion driven talks by young Jordanian thinkers, innovators and entrepreneurs. This event offers an already growing community of exceptional Jordanian talents the spotlight, TEDx style to share inspirational stories and experiences related to Education & Creativity.

TEDxYouth@Amman will be a great opportunity for Jordanian youth to engage in forward thinking ideas, initiatives and remarkable projects, setting new standards for creative thinking and self learning to younger generations of curious minds in Jordan.

TEDxYouth@Amman is taking place at the Cultural Palace – AlHussein Youth City in the capital of Jordan “Amman” on November 19th, 2011.

Our Team

Abdulla Ja’afari
Ushers Coordinator

21 years old
AmmaniV12.com and Jo Bedu
@Razorback89
volunteer[at]tedxyouthamman.com

Computer Science student from Petra University.
Founder, test driver, and Editor of AmmaniV12.com
Brand Representative at Jo Bedu.

Adam Bataineh
Ambassador at JU/Universities Ambassadors Coordinator

20 years old
Medical Student
@Adam_Bat
adambataineh[at]hotmail.com

Currently studying medicine at the University Of Jordan, Amman.

Aser Juma
Ambassador at King’s Academy

16 years old
Student at King’s Academy

I am currently a volunteer at TEDxYouth@Amman, I’m interested in playing sports and watching all sorts of movies.

Dalia Khattab
Ambassador at ACS/High Schools Ambassadors Coordinator

15 years old
Student at ACS

Currently a 10th grade student at the American Community School, class of 2014. Interested in music and performance; she’s social and intellectual.

Dania Juma
Youth Creative Ideas Manager

8 years old

Dania is 8 year old. She is in the fourth grade at Al Mashreq school. She is sociable, smart and has good leadership and organizational skills. She loves music, art, computer games and playing with her friends.

Deema Amr
Filming Director

@Deema_Amr

Director, producer, screenwriter, and more, Deema Amr is simply a filmmaker.

After receiving her first degree in business administration with concentration in marketing from the New York Institute of Technology in 2005, Deema insisted on following her dream and passion for becoming a filmmaker.

In the summer of 2006, Deema attended the New York Film Academy in London. And has ever since worked as a freelance filmmaker which enabled her to gain experience in all aspects of filmmaking from cinematography to editing, directing, production management, and in all forms from short films, documentaries, public system announcements, music video, etc. Within one year from her return from NYFA, Deema had work broadcasted on most Arab satellite TV channels such as Future TV, Rotana, MTV Arabia, ART, MBC, and many more.

In 2010, Deema graduated from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts (RSICA) where she received an MFA in Directing and Editing. Four months later, her feature screenplay “A 7 Hour Difference” was picked up for funding by the Royal Film Commission of Jordan under their Educational Feature Film Program tailored for first time directors.

“7 Hour Difference” is the first Jordanian feature film of it’s kind as it’s a light romantic drama, the film is in post production now. With the making of this film, Deema has entered history as the first woman to ever direct a Jordanian feature length film, an honour she is highly proud of.

Dina Batshon
Social Media Manager

22 years old
@Dee__B
dina[at]tedxyouthamman.com

A full time architecture student at Jordan University for Science and Technology and a social media officer, researcher and contributor at a news website. A reader, blogger and an aspiring writer. ‘Tahweeleh’ initiative founder, in love with social work and chocolate.

Eyad Azab
Speakers & Performers Coordinator

39 Years Old
@eyadazab
eyad[at]tedxyouthamman.com

An MBA degree holder in e-commerce from University of Kent-UK. With over 6 years of experience in ecommerce. Currently holding the position of Operations Manager at Nibras. com an e-learning company. Co-founder and president of TechJordan.

Hiba Reziq
Blogger

23 years old
@HibaReziq

Currently she is a sixth year medical student at Jordan University of Science and Technology JUST, Hiba has been the founder of TEDThursday initiative at JUST, she believes that participation in social activities is an important element of people’s well-being and their ability to socialize with others.

Mohammad Alhajji
Stage Design Manager

Founder of Zawayed
@MohammadAlhajji

Beside my audit career life, I love bringing things back to life, using waste materials available around me to build functional products. Believing everyone can make a difference, I was determined to start the change through my initiative “zawayed” which I am so ambitious about. Engaging the community through social development to achieve one goal “look at things from a different perspective”.

Mohammad Azzam
Photographer

23 Years Old
@AlAzzam

Holds BA in Software Engineering from Petra University in Jordan, works in eMarketing for National Net Venture (N2V) the largest internet holding company in the region, love photography and film making.

Muna Awad
Program & Speakers Manager

40 years old
Educator and trainer
@munayousefawad

Muna has 15 years of experience working in education as teacher, trainer and private tutor.She worked as head of department for training youth. Prior to that she held the position of private Arabic tutor/nanny for the Royal family for 4 years. Previous experience include working as trainer on early childhood education modules at Queen Zein Al-Sharaf Institute for Development (ZENID) , ESL and primary teacher at the International School of Chouweifat, the Math Club and the Modern Language Center. Muna developed creative positive parenting tools: “Mother’s ToolBox” to help parents creatively overcome the challenges they face raising their children and be able to inspire them to become better people. She holds an MA in Education from the University of Bath, UK.

Noora Shanak
Logistics & Ushers Manager

29 years old
@nshanak
noora[at]tedxyouthamman.com

Noora holds B.Sc. in Computer Information Systems. She has worked in many related fields such as e-commerce and technical support along with her voluntary work and community services.

Omar Abdelhaq
Website Administrator

28 years old
Managing Partner at Tech Spaceship
@abdelhaq

I love working on developing web applications, enterprise solutions, online services, and any new ideas that might come into my mind, an Entrepreneur by all means, with over 7 years of practical experience.

Rayya Abu Ghosh
Creativity Space Manager

Yahoo!
Quality Engineering Manager
@rayyaluna

Enjoys arts, travel, and community service.

Sara Dudin
Sponsorship Manager

26 Years Old
Human Resources Manager
@SaraDudin
sponsor[at]tedxyouthamman.com

Obtained her BA degree in Management Information Systems from University of Jordan and MSc degree in Information Management from University of Sheffield ‐ UK. Sara has four years of experience in Human Resources field and currently, pursuing a Professional in Human Resources Certificate (PHR) by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) – USA. A social activist who has a passion for volunteerism and community service.

Suzan Majeed
Ambassador at PSUT

21 Years Old
suzilmuj[at]hotmail.com

Suzan was born in the U.S and raised in Jordan where she attended the New English School in Amman and was always very active in projects such as MUN, the school monthly newsletter. Suzan is currently attending Princess Sumaya University for Technology as a Computer Engineering student. She has started a new extracurricular club called the “YOU! Club” with some of her fellow students who share her love for creativity and innovation. As the president of the YOU! Club, she always makes it her priority to guarantee that the club stays an expression of the students’ passions, hobbies and personalities within the university. Her ultimate goal is showing students how dynamic education can be and how creativity, life experiences and people are as important as the degree they seek to obtain when they finish their studies.

Yanal AbdelRahim
Registration & Badges Coordinator

26 years old
@YanalRahim
yanalrahim[at]gmail.com

MSc degree holder in Computer Systems, field of Image Processing and AI from the University of Wales, UK. He is currently holding the position of Business Development Manager at gate2play, he is also a founding member of an NGO TechJordan. Four years of experience in E-commerce, and online payment solutions.

Zain Awad
Performers Manager

Zain was taken by the world of music since she was 4 years old. At the age of 12, she became her school’s leading singer and performer participating in all annual school concerts.

The first official participation was on a national level play “Peace Child”, sponsored by His Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal in 1992, where Zain took a leading singing role. She also participated in the making and singing of the song “My Family” for the ” International Family Year ” under the auspices of the United Nations in 1994. The song was the only version in Arabic to represent the Arab world for this event amongst other languages.

Zain sang for humanity, childhood, special needs, the environment, the needy, on Orphan’s Day in Egypt and for her country. She has three albums, the latest one won her the Jordan Award for best Jordanian singer 2010

Her Jingles for Jordan won her vast recognition and appreciation. The jingles aired for a whole year between radio talk shows on one of the main radio stations prime time.

Zain revived some of the old traditional songs “Jazz style”, and beautifully chants in Spanish, Italian, French and Arabic.

On an international level, Zain sang in England in the Anglo Saxon society, in Germany as part of the German Jordanian cultural celebration. She sang along side famous Lebanese Iraqi well known Ragheb Alameh and Kathem Al-Saher.

Agenda

Event program to be announced soon.

Activities in Social Space

TEDx Lab

This is a space shared by the youngest of Jordan’s inventors together with known professional businesses in technology.

Featuring:
Zain lounge, Microsoft’s Kinect game area, team OaSys, and our youngest inventors: Rami Hamati, Mohammad Sehimat , Odeh Sehimat, Ahmed Qaralleh, Mahmoud Ashour.

Game Development Workshop

Here, Mayselward – a game development studio focused on delivering unique Mobile and Online games – will let YOU develop your own game. Watch Mayselward’s talented developers build a game in one day! Also, give them new ideas for games. The best ideas will be chosen and given the opportunity to be built into actual games of which YOU are the author.

Charter for Compassion

Get introduced to the Charter for Compassion – Jordan, learn how to participate in its activities in Jordan, even join us in affirming the charter!

Art Exhibition

This is a creative gallery space where young artists from Jordan will showcase their creations, including pieces they made especially for the event. The artists will give a face to Educativity – as they imagine it.

The artwork will range from black and white pencil and coal drawings to acrylic and oil paintings, to photography of nature and people.

Featured artists:
Dina Malkawi, Fatima Abu Arida, Mohammad Tamimi, Nadine Zaza, Nader Mohamadiyeh, Ola Doudine, Shahd Hamouri, Lutfi Zayed.

Bookstore

A display of a selection of interesting international books, related to education, learning, and creativity. A number of publications is authored by TEDxYouth@Amman speakers themselves.

Also on display, will be award-winning movies produced in Jordan, provided by the Royal Film Commission.

Video Booth

The VideoBooth is a creative and fun way for guests to record a unique video message during the event. Guests step in front of the “open air” booth, pick up the microphone, and leave a video message for the hosts.

Venue

The Cultural Palace

Al-Hussein Youth City – Gate 1
Established in 1969, the Cultural Palace is a large venue used to host regional and national cultural conferences, as well as Arab and International conventions and art exhibitions.

Spanning a total area of 2,550 sqm, the Culture Palace comprises two main halls:

• The Marble Hall, used for artistic and cultural exhibitions. Adjacent to it is the Royal Pavilion, which is a high-tech room for event supervisors and V.I.P guests.

• The Inner Hall comprises of a stage that can hold up to 90 performers, with costume rooms for the performers. A theatre hall with a total capacity of 1,767 viewers, 787 luxury seats, 430 2nd class seats and 550 regular seats.

Speakers & Performers

Anwar Almojarkesh

Anwar Almojarkesh, Syrian nationality. Studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Science and Technology of Jordan, currently in his fifth year. He has been inventing since childhood and has 5 patents to date. He received his first patent when he was 14 years old and got the title of Youngest Inventor in the Middle East

‘Mohammad Noor’ Abu Khleif

‘Mohammad Noor’ Abu Khleif is a 17 year old student who has developed a passion for Math since he was 9 years old. Two years ago, at the age of 15 he proposed 14 new methods to learning and teaching Math.He published his first 4- chapter 225 page book explaining these methods.Mohammad ranked first …


Shahd Hamouri

A sixteen years old speaker aspiring to be a social activist. A thinker, a reader, and a blogger, who spent her childhood in a land of books and imagination and grew up with a need to analyze the world around her. Thus, she grew with an interest in philosophy, and developed her interest throughout the

JEEL

JEEL: A Jordanian Band that started to sing in harmony together in 2007, they perform a collection of Arab & traditional old songs in a new musical arrangement with a harmony of four different vocals. They have a bunch of their own songs. Written, composed and arranged by them. In 2011 they have released their first Music Video “Risalet Salam” that conveys a message of peace to the world.

JEEL has performed in many

Sima Sirriyeh

Since the age of 9, Sima began to find life in the black and white keys. Instinctively knowing that this is a passion, she continued down the road of these keys along her school years at The Ahliyyah School for Girls allowing their creativity to naturally intertwine with every aspect of her


Hazem Tarawneh

Hazem, an electronics engineer, communications trainer, and activist and participant in various youth organizations and conferences, is currently working as a Socioeconomic researcher. Yet, most importantly, he has worked to heal a devastating loss, transforming it into a source of positive energy, personal growth, and strength.

A philosopher by nature, Hazem has


Rama AlNakib

Born in Damascus, Syria; second-generation Iraqi refugee Rama moved to Baltimore in the United States at the young age of 5 and attended elementary school there. From age 11 onwards, her mother’s job allowed her to spend years in various countries including England, Spain, Syria, Iraq and Jordan.

This has exposed her to


Salma Tabari

An eighteen year old dreamer/author that basis the entirety of her life on faith and determination. Published her first book at the age of fifteen, and has been passionate about writing since elementary school


Maha Shehadeh

General Manager of Tafakkur center
for training and educational development

Researcher and global trainer in Building child’s character, teaching thinking strategies, and teaching Tafakkur worship systematically
Author of Tafakkar with Annoos Curriculum
Innovator of Tafakkur Educational Model
Innovator of the methodical vision for the school of the future “Tafakkur school” the creative moral school
Innovator of The Integrated Model for generating moral behavior


Bushra Ali

Bushra Ali is a fourth – year student of medicine at the University of Jordan , a social activist , passionate about reading and voluntary work since she was studying at the secondary school .

Her favorite quote is “ Be the change you want to see in this world”.


Across Jordan

We are a group of local dancers varying in age and nationality, our common factor happens to be the love of dance and the love of Jordan (as most of us have been living in Jordan our entire lives and some, the most of it). We are a diverse group of dancers not only when it comes to physical and sociological factors, but we also have different styles and experiences when it comes to dance. Our youngest group members are as young as 11 years old and our eldest is 25 years old…

Dina Batshon

Dina Batshon is a 22 year old knowledge seeker. She is currently studying architectural engineering in her 5th year. After facing multiple disappointments with regards to her education in Jordan Dina decided to branch out and work/train/volunteer in different fields to find out her passion and her calling.

Ward Wakileh

Ward Daoud Wakileh was born on February 29th, 1996 in a house rich with its education and creativity which added to his compassion of poetry, colors, and music. All this resulted in several poems and art work. His first poetry book “شهد الورد Shahd El Ward” was published in 2006. It didn’t take him more than a year to write his second poetry book “ عبق الحب Abak El Hob”, then in 2010 his third poetry book was written “هدير الصمت Hadeer El Samt” which was aimed to ask for the rights of the children and dealt with the concept of violence against childhood as he felt it’s everyone’s responsibility to take care of them

Sumaya Awad

Born in Amman, Jordan, Sumaya Awad moved to the United States at the age of 5 and spent her childhood in Iowa City, Iowa. The different culture in the States emphasized her diverse background and she learned to appreciate the beauty of both worlds. Upon moving back to Jordan at the age of twelve, she was able to interact with and bridge the gaps between both cultures in her daily life. It is from this experience that she is now able to understand culture and identity and what it means to her

Mohammed Tahboub

Mohammed Talal Tahboub, born in 1989, is a gifted person by nature who has always been a distinguished child and student. He is now a 5th year medical student at JUST (Jordan University for Science and Technology) and has an endless passion for music. He first enrolled in Violin classes at the National Music Conservatory (NMC) when he was only 8 years old. The violin soon became his soul mate and they became inseparable.

Breaking Even

We are “Breaking Even”. Our band consists of three people, who are Elias Naser (drummer), Lorin Kurdi (singer), and Izz Aryan (guitarist and singer)…

Miran Mirza

Influenced by Steve Jobs, Miran Mirza set out to begin innovating through technology. At age 12 he took up programming and created online multiplayer games. By age 14, he took a deep interest in computers and so he created the Ascent operating system based on Linux.

ABS Percussion Band

The Amman Baccalaureate School (ABS) Percussion Band is made up of talented and artistic students in grades 7-10. Similar to the American show, Stomp, the band makes music with non-traditional instruments such asbrooms, cans of beans, and garbage cans…

Flats

Luna Al-Arja is a 17 year student at the conservatory of music. At the age of 9, she began playing music, but it was only until her parents had presented her with her own piano that she felt an instant connection with the instrument, and completely fell in love with it.
It was under the guidance of Maestro Mohammad Othman Sidiq that Luna learned the discipline and effort needed to produce true music…

Ali Al-Shami

Ali Al-Shami. Born on the 2nd of Feb 1991. The Youngest Professional Magician in the Middle East. Loved the art of magic ever since I was a little kid but I couldn’t learn anything because there was no one to teach me…

Rami al-Gharaibeh

Since childhood, engineering has been a passion of mine. I did not find joy in buying a toy as much as making one. After high school I studied electrical engineering majoring in computers at Yarmouk University in Irbid-Jordan. Following graduation, I worked as a system administrator and network architect at Jordan University of Science and Technology. During this era of my life I discovered my second passion; that is knowledge transfer. I enjoyed the challenge of explaning concepts in a way that is more effective and efficient than how they are being tought.

Fadil Naddeh

My name is Fadil Naddeh but most people know me as Shawn. I have dual nationalities of Irish and Jordanian. I Recently graduated from Princess Sumaya University for Technology with a degree in Telecommunications Engineering.

Sam Bain

“From the age of four, Sam had a strong passion for music. As a child, Sam was selected to join the orange county choir, in California, USA, for his beautiful voice. However, Sam’s dream of becoming a musician was put on hold when Sam decided to study to become a lawyer. After receiving an LLB from the University of London, Queen Mary, Sam qualified as a lawyer in England & Wales and currently works at a top 10 global law firm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Sam never lost his passion for music and continues to write and compose his own music.

Samer Younis

An expert in building national strategies, establishing NGOs and running their operations to reach a sustainable level, Mr. Younis is considered a business development expert on both internal and external levels. Conducted management trainings and consultancy projects on a regional level, especially in the field of improving Management Skills and Organizational Structures.

Lutif Zayed

Is a graphic designer / illustrator based in Amman. Loves to do things that involve drawing whether it’s digital or traditional, and a neat freak only when it comes to creating artworks and illustrations

Youth Award: What is EDUCATIVITY?

Do you have your personal definition of EDUCATIVITY? Do you have a vision for how “education” and “creativity” can be put together? And do you want to be an official speaker at TEDxYouth@Amman?

As you may aready know, “Educativity” is the theme we have chosen for the TEDxYouth@Amman event taking place this coming November 19th 2011 at the Cultural Palace – Hussein Sports City. We created a competition to get you engaged and to hear from you.

What you have to do is pretty simple:

  1. Take a 3 minute video of yourself telling us your vision for Educativity. A video using your personal camera or even your webcam would be good.

  2. Send us the video to dina@tedxyouthamman.com before November 15th.

  3. Wait for us to review all sent videos and pick the winner.

Three easy steps, all you need is a good vision or an idea to share about Educativity and a video camera.

The Prize…
If you are the lucky winner, your prize will be a 3 minute talk on stage on the day of the event in front of 1500 Jordanian audience! Get your cameras rolling!

Blog

This is the official TEDxYouth@Amman blog, please keep checking this page for interesting posts about the event and more.

Eight Key Recommendations To Have Creativity In Higher Education

Here are 8 Recommendations for Creativity in Higher Education Institutions taken from the report on by the European University Association:

  1. Striving towards a creative mix of individual talents and experiences among students and staff, providing common fora for researchers from different disciplines and offering diverse learning experiences will likely result in conditions favorable to the creativity of the higher education community. Structured exchanges between the arts and other disciplines can be particularly fruitful.

  2. Diversity within institutions should be complemented with engagement, outreach activities and cooperation on the local level and beyond. Relations with external partners expose the academy to expertise not found within its walls and prevent isolation and self-reference. Cooperation between Higher Education Institutions and external partners should follow the model of virtuous knowledge creation by aiming towards co-creation of knowledge through a two-way communication process to the mutual benefit of both partners.

  3. Any activity of Higher Education Institutions has to stand the test of whether it fosters the public mission of the institution in terms of teaching and learning, research or service to society. If it does not fulfill these basic ethical requirements, the activity should not be undertaken. Any profits generated by Higher Education Institutions should be geared towards socially inclusive wealth creation.

  4. Universities should look towards the future in all their activities, rather than being grounded in the past. The high level of expertise of the university community in diverse fields uniquely qualifies Higher Education Institutions to strive towards “being one step ahead” of the times by going beyond established knowledge, questioning time-honoured ideas and trying not only to solve current problems but also be proactive in identifying issues of future relevance. In keeping with this forward-looking orientation, Higher Education Institutions should work towards developing internal quality processes that support the creativity agenda by being geared towards the future and avoid over-bureaucratization.

  5. It is recommended that Higher Education Institutions explore the concept of a learning organization for their management and governance structures. As important as these structural elements are, they must be complemented with ethical and cultural concerns in order to create an institutional milieu favorable to creativity.

  6. Students and staff need to be provided with institutional structures and cultures that aim at balancing stability with flexibility. The human potential of the university should be provided with the safeguards necessary to encourage risk-taking. At the same time, students and staff should be prepared to contribute towards shaping future developments and be ready to address the insecurity and uncertainty this entails.

  7. The institutional leadership should embrace its overall responsibility and balance top-down management with delegating specific decisions to staff and students, as appropriate, in order to ensure a wide ownership of change processes within the university community.

The 8th and last recommendation is for governments:

  1. Legal frameworks, funding mechanisms and policy priorities on the local/regional, and national levels may exert considerable influence on creativity within the higher education sector. Governments need to be aware of their role in advancing the creativity agenda and the responsibilities this entails. Higher education institutions must be provided with the financial and academic autonomy necessary for acting on the recommendations. Governments should provide the necessary frameworks and support to enable Higher Education Institutions to base their activities on their values and missions. Specifically, governments should refrain from pressuring institutions to generate profits at any price. In parallel, governments should assess the degree to which the legal frameworks encourage entrepreneurship in the private sector and encourage banking and other financial institutions to support the creativity agenda of higher education.

Educativity : First Point Of Change!

*Written by Ayd Mahdy Asraf.

As we all know the theme that TEDxYouth@Amman decided to adopt is the expression “Educativity”. As I guess most of us have read or came to the conclusion that this structure is built out of two words “Education” + “Creativity”, but what is the logic behind this combination? Is this a newly created concept or not? What would we expect from this theme? And what is our role as youth in forming such concept within our societies? All of this and more will be discussed in this post.

What is Educativity?
In very simple words, it’s the ability of merging the inputs, the processes and the outcomes from both creativity and education. It’s the area where our educational systems utilize and emphasize our creativity in every aspect. We can also have a definition for “Educativity” as the ability of education to influence and shape lives, attitudes and methodologies for the people being educated forcing them to come up with new, creative and original ideas or customizations to solutions of current problems or proactively prevent possible ones.

History of Educativity
As far as my search concluded, the term “Educativity” started to appear and spread world wise with conjunction to the World Economic Crises in late 2007, as since that date we started to see the expression being talked about in books , articles and blogs over and over again. Taking a deeper look at this fact we can say it’s pretty logical, since the only way to recover from the effects of this crisis is to think creatively and create new original ideas that are flexible enough to walk through the current situation.

Failing to do so led the western communities to concentrate on assessing their educational and economical systems. They came up with the result that the way we educate our children kills their motives to be creatives or in other words, they discovered that the current educational methods create brilliant technicians rather than creative visionaries.

TEDx and Educativity
As part of TED’s mission, and TEDx responsibility toward its’ local communities, TEDxYouth@Amman team realized the importance of reflecting the concept of “Educativity” in our local society, especially that we got the creative minds, the abilities and very amazing diversity in capabilities. Sadly, we face the same problems as everyone else: our educational system kills our innovation and creativity. So very enthusiastically, the TEDxYouth@Amman team searched (and is still searching) all over the country to found speakers and performers who had the will to challenge their reality, environments and educational systems in every aspect. And not only this, but also they had the capability to create and innovate new values and added methods to their country.

Announcing such a theme is a big added value to TEDx events and it’s the first step for real measured change in Jordan.

Why The Youth Edition?
As we all know, our Arab world in general and Jordan in specific is blessed with a majority of the population that is rated as ‘youth’. Taking this into consideration will lead to the most logical conclusion, which is that making such a huge change in the idealism within youth themselves will pace the change to be reflected on the society as all. The youth has the potentials and the energy to carry the message that TEDx want to deliver and spread it national wide on both practical and theoretical aspects. I think TEDx really do believe in the power of youth and try as much as they can to empower them with the tools and ideas so they really can impact and push their societies to the best.

Final Words
Out of my previous experience with TEDx events, I really have faith in their ability to inspire and make the positive change within our souls, I myself had a major one in the past. I really can’t wait till the event to meet all of those youth there, to learn and be inspired from people younger than I am, because I simply do believe that “Our Ideas Are Always Worth Spreading”.

*Written by Ayd Mahdy Asraf. You can send us posts to publish on our website as well.

Youth Award: What is EDUCATIVITY?
We asked you if you have your personal definition of EDUCATIVITY. We asked about your vision for how “education” and “creativity” can be put together, and if you wanted to be an official speaker at TEDxYouth@Amman.

As you may aready know, “Educativity” is the theme we have chosen for the TEDxYouth@Amman event taking place this coming November 19th 2011 at the Cultural Palace – Hussein Sports City. We created a competition to get you engaged and to hear from you.

We asked you to do these 3 simple steps:

  1. Take a 3 minute video of yourself telling us your vision for Educativity. A video using your personal camera or even your webcam would be good.

  2. Send us the video to dina@tedxyouthamman.com before November 15th.

  3. Wait for us to review all sent videos and pick the winner.

Three easy steps, all you need is a good vision or an idea to share about Educativity and a video camera.

The Prize:
If you are the lucky winner, your prize will be a 3 minute talk on stage on the day of the event in front of 1500 Jordanian audience! Many of you got their cameras rolling and sent us truly inspiring videos.

The Winner:

Now that the competition has ended we have picked one lucky winner to get 3 minutes on stage and share his talk with all of us at TEDxYouth@Amman. The winner and his talk will remain a surprise till the day of the event. Watch this space as we’ll announce the winner and post his video after the event.

5 Great TEDxTalks not on TED.com
We were contacted a while back by the TEDxPhoenix team with a very unique idea. They had come across 5 Great TEDxTalks Not on TED.com. The team thought that there were many inspiring TEDxTalks from around the world that can be found on the TEDx YouTube channel but are not featured anywhere on TED.com.

Now consider this, in order for a TEDxTalk to be considered for TED.com, it first has to be viewed by the folks at TED. Taking into account that there’s an average of 300 TEDxTalks being generated each month, then it’s obvious that the folks at TED have a lot of work ahead of them.

In the spirit of spreading good ideas we thought we’d join in and make it a little easier for the TED.com people to view interesting TEDxTalks and share them on the website. We think 5 is a good number, but just couldn’t ignore any of the following talks so we’re featuring a bonus as well.

  1. TEDxDeadSea – Henna Al Khalili – Eco Dome

  2. TEDxDeadSea – Muna Awad – The Language of Creativity Begins at Home

  3. TEDxCairo – Wael Fakharany – The Discomfort of our Comfort Zone

  4. TEDxRamallah – Munir Fasheh – Occupation of Knowledge

  5. TEDxUbud – Tah Riq Amawi - Taking a Leap: From Desktop to Rooftop

+1. TEDxToronto – Drew Dudley – Leading with Lollipops

What are your favorite talks that aren’t on TED.com?

One unique team member | Dania
TEDxYouthAmman will happen on the 19th of November in the Jordanian capital Amman, and apart from the marvelous line up of speakers and performers getting ready to spread their inspirational ideas, the team has another truly inspiring thing going under the radar.

Our ‘Youth Creative Manager’ position is taken by 9-year-old Dania Juma. Dania’s role is to be our connection to youth her age within our community. She provides ideas and information that help us target her age group at TEDxYouth@Amman. Dania is full of out of the box ideas, has all the insider tips about capturing the attention of the youth and most importantly is always taking the initiative with presenting ideas and feedback. She truly deserves the title of Creative Manager.

Dania leads the life of your average 4th grader — Selena Gomez lover, adores magazines and creating play areas at home in front of her moms work desk. She is a self proclaimed cupcake and sugar addict. She likes drawing, writing, swimming and most importantly, doing all of the above with her best friend. You can see how she differs from youth her age when you hear that she takes Chinese language classes every Saturday.

Now, while most of us are concentrated on social media to spread the word about the event and get people to register, Dania came up with the idea of contacting the youth through online games. Teenagers are addicted to online games and Dania thought that it would be the perfect mean to effectively get them involved with the event, she even suggested that we create our own online game. Creativity at its best, don’t you think?

When it came time to make decisions with regards to the gift bag that will be given to all the people at the event, Dania was ready with ideas written down. A bracelet with TEDxYouth@Amman logo to always be worn as a reminder, a bag made from recycled material or maybe one with a template drawing that people can customize and color.

For the event itself Dania also thought of something that will bring attention to ‘spreading ideas’ at the event. She imagined a TEDx jacket that will be worn by anyone who gets an inspiring idea and wants to share it with those surrounding him. If anything, this shows how Dania fully understands the concept and essence of TED. She understands that it’s not just about the event, but about the constant sharing and spreading of ideas and she was already doing through our team meetings.

Having Dania on our team has not only fed the process with many interesting ideas and feedback, but has also added a few smiles and laughs at her extra polite way of conversing. A 9-year-old who takes the initiative and is always ready to present her ideas in the presence of 20, 30 and 40 year olds is nothing short of amazing.

So all in all, not only will our event be incredible because of the effort we are putting to make it one of a kind, but also because of the amazing and unique personalities such as Dania that make up our team.